Community Engagement and Forest Conservation in Sri Lanka
Keywords:
Community, ecosystems, deforestation, initiativesAbstract
Community engagement is essential for the conservation and sustainable management of forest ecosystems, especially in countries such as Sri Lanka, where rural populations depend significantly on forest resources. This study examines the relationship between community involvement and forest conservation efforts, emphasizing successful projects and obstacles encountered in Sri Lanka.
In order to manage forests sustainably in the face of mounting demand from deforestation, increased agricultural production, and development initiatives, local communities must be involved. Realizing that locals are important stakeholders in forest conservation initiatives as well as its stewards, Sri Lanka has implemented a number of initiatives to encourage this involvement. Forest areas are given ownership or management rights to local communities. It is suggested for communities to preserve the ecosystem while making sustainable use of forest resources for their livelihoods. It is now well acknowledged that local people' contributions to forest management are preferable to the conventional command-based control strategy. But after a few years of implementation, the majority of initiatives collapsed because the community did not participate, leaving community forestry with an uncertain future. This study looks at the intention of Sri Lankans to participate in community forestry programs. The results also showed that there is still much to learn about the goals of the policy-making process and the community participation and forest conservation program. Therefore, in order to increase awareness, require quick attention. Furthermore, if locals are not encouraged to participate in this duty, government initiatives may be insufficient or ineffectual. In order to guarantee that community-based forest management policies are uniformly applied at all administrative levels across the nation, the Department of Forest Conservation should take sensible steps and rigorously assess their appropriateness.
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